Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (media franchise)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is a media franchise that began as a series of military tactical shooter video games created by Red Storm Entertainment, the game development studio founded by American author Tom Clancy. It then expanded into other media, including a novel series and a short film.

In the video games, the player is in charge of a squad of United States Army Special Forces operators from Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG) stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Except for the "1st Battalion, 5th SFG" designation, this unit is entirely fictional. In Ghost Recon: Future Soldier it is revealed that the Ghosts have a second designation - the Group for Specialized Tactics (or GST, from which the term "Ghost" is derived) and are a Special Mission Unit under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

In the year 2009, old hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia have resurfaced. Colonel Tesfaye Wolde of the Ethiopian military had participated in illegal arms trades with the same Russian ultra-nationalists who launched the coup the previous year (see above). Sparing no time at all, and with a newly refurbished arsenal, Col. Wolde seized the opportunity to reclaim Eritrea (which won independence in 1993). The situation garnered international interest when the conflict threatened the shipping lanes in the Red Sea. In response to a plea from the Eritrean government for international support, the Ghosts have been mobilized to stop Col. Wolde from advancing any further.

In 2010 Cuba is free, or at least it is supposed to be. Since Fidel Castro's death in 2006, the island of Cuba is wary of the communist rule it had been under for nearly 50 years. It is time for the first free and open elections since Carlos Prio Socarras, who was overthrown by Fulgencio Batista in the early 1950s. The FDG (El Frente Democratico del Pueblo or People's Democratic Front) has fronted a man named Priego as their candidate. The FDG are an outspoken anti-American political faction that wishes to return Cuba to its perpetual state of independence. Although the FDG publicly denies utilizing violence as a means of coercion, the reality is quite the contrary, as the Ghosts quickly discover. Now it is up to them to set things right again, without making it appear that America is getting their hands too dirty, and ensuring the elections proceed smoothly.

Taking place just after Island Thunder in Bogotá, Colombia, the drug cartel that had aided and financed the FDG in their efforts in Cuba has initiated a number of terrorist attacks against the Colombian government who have allied themselves with America. After Colombia's call for help following an attack on a U.S. Embassy, America responds by deploying the Ghosts to restore order and put the cartel out of business.

In a very subtle story line, which takes place in 2007, parallel the events in another of Tom Clancy's stories—that of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. The main character, Sam Fisher, is in Korea at a missile battery. Ghost Recon 2 and Chaos Theory even use exactly the same movie cutscene sequence to depict an attack on the United States' state-of-the-art ship the USS Clarence E. Walsh stationed in the area to monitor recent aggression's between Korea and China against Japan. The storyline in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is rather ambiguous in regard to who actually fired on the Walsh but the Ghosts are in fact implicated in something of a support mission to Sam Fisher (as they are told over comms - yet Sam is never named to them). The Ghosts are deployed by President David Bowers to stop the rogue Major General Paik. Two months later, Paik seizes a nuclear weapon and the Ghosts blow it up, resulting in the death of Paik.

The year is 2011, in the wake of one of North Korea's worst famines, an insidious North Korean General—Jung Chong-Sun, influences the government to secretly divert humanitarian aid to beef up its army, slowly gaining power in the process. Fearful that North Korea is amassing huge quantities of military weapons, the new Chinese regime eliminates arms sales to North Korea. In response, the North Korean government initiates secret overtures to Russia, who strikes a quiet alliance. In the midst of another North Korean famine, food riots begin rocking the countryside and the rogue North Korean general assumes complete control of the army. Blaming China for the famine, he begins charging north to seize Chinese territory with tacit support from its new Russian ally. China moves to respond, but limits the level of escalation, fearing open conflict with Russia and a possible nuclear exchange. Instead, China officially agrees to a multinational force to safeguard the China-North Korean border. Unofficially, the Ghosts and other special forces go in. Their mission: cripple the North Korean threat and depose the rogue general.

In 2012 the country of Kazakhstan has fallen into chaos. The Kazakh president and Security Council were assassinated in an explosion set by a notorious Pakistani warlord and arms dealer named Asad Rahil. With the President dead, the Kazakh military fractured into factions vying for political control of the country. Rahil quickly moved in and consolidated power using his corrupt Kazakh military contacts. A large group of soldiers loyal to the country of Kazakhstan has been working closely with U.N. ground forces to stabilize the region. The Ghosts have been sent in to capture Rahil and neutralize his military presence. They are working closely with a contact in the Kazakh military named Grigoriy Kozlov. Together, the Ghosts and Kozlov shadow the U.N. ground force’s assaults against Rahil’s troops and track him from the southern mountain ranges to the wastes of the arid badlands.

Panamanian rebels have stolen a U.S. black-ops spy plane and are going to trade it to Mexican rebels about to spearhead a coup d'tat. The guerrilla leaders are General Ontiveros and his son, Carlos Ontiveros. At first it is just a routine operation for the Ghosts to retrieve the stolen Guardrail IX but then the guerrillas do acts such as capturing the American president (James Ballantine), the Mexican president, and assassinated the Canadian Prime Minister who all went to Mexico sign NAJSA, a treaty to share border responsibilities to curtail drug trafficking, illegal immigrants, and to stop terrorists throughout the hemisphere. Soon, Ontiveros captures U.S. ICBM codes and tensions rise with the Chinese and Russians who have "sketchy intel". In the final two missions you capture General Ontiveros and kill Carlos Ontiveros.

It is 2014, just 24 hours after the events of GRAW. Rebels have taken control of the Panama Canal and are still fighting in Mexico.
Scott Mitchell is sent in to Ciudad Juárez for most of the game to keep Mexican rebels from getting WMD's from a stolen Pakistani cargo ship in the Panama Canal. Scott and the "Ghosts" are covertly sent in until Ballantine and Mexico's president Ruiz-Pena sign NAJSA, when the war becomes official.

After Indian-registered American mining ships are attacked and dozens killed off the coast of Sri Lanka, The Ghosts are deployed to Sri Lanka, where they find the enemy may not be who it seems. The Ghosts were inserted 72-hours ahead of the fleet to prepare for the invasion.

As the commander of the Ghosts, your mission is to stop the Russian ultranationalist Yuri Treskayev from coming to power. From the hot deserts of Kazakhstan to the towns and villages of Ukraine and the frozen lands of Siberia, you must discover and disable the secret Soviet-era “Dead Hand” bases which Treskayev is using to build an army of drones to seize power. You will have access to full resources to build, train, and equip your team, using increasingly high-tech weapons and armor.

After being inserted in Moscow and separated from the rest of their team, Ghost soldiers Hibbard and Booth must operate as a two-man team, relying on the intel of the local militia to fight their way to their target in a city infested with enemies. With the numbers clearly not in their favor, they will have to use their advanced weaponry and training to make sure the odds are.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter. It was originally know as Ghost Recon Online and features a conflict between the Ghosts and a group of ex-soldiers known as the Phantoms.

Captain Alexander Brent leads a Ghost Team during World War III to hunt the Snow Maiden operative. In the book's immediate sequel, Tom Clancy's EndWar: The Missing, Scott Mitchell is seen in command of several JSF combat operations.